Anita Houck is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana, where she has served as department chair and director of the Writing Proficiency Program. A former high-school teacher, parish Director of Religious Education, and Pastoral Associate, Anita received her B.A. in Religious Studies from Wesleyan University, an Ed.M. in Teaching and Curriculum from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Religion and Literature from the University of Chicago Divinity School. She is the Secretary/Treasurer of the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality and former Vice President of the College Theology Society, which awarded her the Monika Hellwig Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2017. She most often teaches world religions and comparative theology, and her research interests include religion and humor (especially laughter at and by God); vocation, especially of single life; and pedagogy. She is co-editor, with Mary Doak, of Translating Religion(Orbis, 2013). She lives in Riverside, Illinois.

She would like to thank Bill Waymouth, Susan Baxter, and Mary Ellen Hynes for their generous help in producing this video.